so i moved again. but before i moved these things happened.

oh hey hi! for some reason multiple people have thought i died this past week so i guess it is time to blog and tell the world wide web that i am alive! 

my last post discussed how i just moved for the third time (you probably didn't read it because it was a lot of words, i don't blame you) so now I live about five minutes from the Harvard Business School which is kind of neat. but before i moved some nice things occurred. one of them being my brother helping my parents facetime on their ipad! and then the same brother going over to my sister's house and being able to facetime with them via his iphone. i hadn't seen any of these cuties since i moved to boston and it was a very welcomed reunion. 

did i mention that my roommates love to cook? i realized i would be moving soon so i began helping them and asking lots of questions because roommate kenzie doesn't use recipes but everything always tastes great and it blows my mind. on this particular day i was brave and made chicken tikki marsala while kenzie made homemade ravioli, homemade sauce, and homemade artisan bread. why wasn't i doing those things when i was 19? or 24? 

 

i'm pleased to announce that everything was delicious and i made her tell me how she made that meal so if i'm ever feeling overzealous i can (try to) recreate it. 

our ward did a little priesthood appreciation night and someone thought it would be a good idea to have karaoke at the end to you know, lighten the mood. well. all of the sudden this dear friend stood up and not only decided to sing "sexual healing" but also felt it was appropriate to give a speech along with it about how we all have sexual tension and we just need to let it out. i. was. dying!and perhaps i recorded it because it was just that awful/awesome. 

i decided to sleep over at new friends mccall and pam's house. we watched the sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 and i felt so happy about it. there is just something about watching awful chick flicks with nice friends that will always fill me with satisfaction. 

parking in boston is a bit rough so at times you have to park a mile or two away from where you are going. this happened to occur during a downpour but i had an umbrella so i felt fine. 

here is why people (young single adult lds people) are cool in boston.  most of them have no inhibitions and they will attend something like a cotillion and actually dance and even a few dressed appropriately for the occasion. i feel bad that i initially went because i thought it would be amusing (which it still was) because i ended up dancing the entire time and learning some sweet new 1800's moves! i feel that activity would have bombed in provo and that kind of makes me sad. 

 i tried so hard to understand why this was happening

and i never could but i liked it a lot. 

a girl in my ward informed me a church nearby has a thrift store so i decided to check it out and found the cutest dog willow! i'm really not a dog person to be 100% honest but for some reason i LOVED this dog. so fat and fluffy and mellow. sadly the woman who owned him didn't know what mix he was because she got him from a shelter. my one chance at finding a dog i would want to own has been blown! 

afterwards i walked over to check out urban's books because they never fail to entertain

and i found a folder i could use for the february photo a day challenge. the challenge that day was "green" and i think these cats pretty much some up how i felt about the prompts each day. maybe i'll end up posting my photos for it? but maybe not. 

 so as i've previous mentioned i was always way against smart phones and never owned one until i moved out here. i still think you can get by without one BUT i am always grateful for it in moments like above when you are driving to walmart and as you look at your maps app you see you are right by the ocean!

so you jump out of the car and love the crap out of it for a few moments. 

then you spend a lot of money at walmart on things you need for your new place because it is unfurnished which, as our saynotocosmo friend would say, gives you the sads. 

the night before i left brenna was really sweet and helped me alter some shirts that were just a liiittle too big for my body. i really need to get my domestic on and learn how to do these things myself!

the day i left i had an interview so instead of taking the bus to the subway station i decided to walk through the cemetery.

 and then coming home i did the same for the last time which was sad :(

(but i really liked this cute old man (kind of) walking alongside me which made me feel better)

 bye bye baby room and fake mattress. 

 thanks grace for always saving the day. and is anyone else wondering how i have so much crap? i swear i came over with just three suitcases..

and bye roommates. i appreciated that you were so good at all the things i'm not. sometimes i wish you didn't already forget that i ever lived with you and sometimes even forgot that when i still lived there haha but it is okay! because i love you anyway and i enjoyed our time together. and brenna - i enjoyed that chocolate chip cookie dough you made for me right before i left, especially how you left out the chocolate chips because i hate them. 

texas : part one

so unlike my usual self, i am not going to separate texas into 100 posts but rather just two so as to actually blog and not talk myself out of it like i've been doing the last few days. 

so here we are - the pictures taken on my handy point and shoot that i felt like posting. 

first off. 6am flight to dallas (xie xie priceline) and arriving at 10 am and feeling starved to death.

i walked past pizza hut on the way to baggage claim and it called my name. 10 am too early to eat pizza? no way.

i don't feel like this has ever happened before in my life so it felt very necessary to document.

such a nice momma to clean up the mess i made haha

i took a few pictures of thanksgiving on my other camera so we will jump right to black friday but really thursday night activities. i'm never one to care about black friday and i was really tempted to just stay home but decided i never regret going on an adventure so i went and it was so entertaining.

since i was with a mom we did a classic kohls, walmart, and target run. walmart was my favorite because everyone was being absolutely nuts! sooo many people shoving and pushing and grabbing everything they could. i couldn't help but join in and ended up buying a lot of dvds. not because i really cared to have them but how could i really pass up them up for only $1.99?

and that boy would be my nieces little friend dorian.

i was so happy he came and just carried everything for everyone. a true gentleman.

after getting home around 4am we went to sleep for awhile and then got back up to hit up some texas grown thrift stores! they were all 25 - 50% off and i found some real gems! double win.

we tried finding another thrift store but the gps took us to this nice neighborhood instead.

 are you obsessed with those trees as much as i am?

i liked it so much that i got out of the car to take a look around and left mickayla to

 figure out our whereabouts. doesn't she look so happy about it?

i was really so happy we stumbled upon this west oak historic district

and so happy that after we made a loop around the town the gps brought us back to this quaint street and it turns out God just knew how much i love historical homes because that thrift store didn't even exist.

so because i'm always very into making the most of situations (yes b this will have the change of plans tag! i was just excited i remembered) i made her park the car, get out, and stroll this street with me.

then i made her take pictures like the one above so as to create the illusion that she was loving her life.

while in reality she was probably bored to death because what 17 year old likes that stuff?

the next day we went to tricia and dale's favorite chinese buffet and might I say it did not disappoint!

of course none of it was very authentic but i could eat their cream cheese wontons and spring rolls all day every day. i gave them two thumbs waaay up.

twins

this was really exciting. i always fail at yogurt places but i finally got something delicious!

mine is on the left. blueberry and vanilla yogurt mixed with raspberries, blueberries, and almonds.

i have rarely felt more successful than i did in that moment.

another exciting thing is the new "gift of lights" which really isn't a gift since you have to pay to go through it. so we just drove as close as we could without paying, stared at the nice lights and massive speedway, and called it good.

this was definitely a highlight. sam was so sick most of my trip but the last day or two he starting feeling better and he was a completely different baby! i cherished the short time he was willing to be my friend.

i really enjoyed my time at night by the christmas tree either trying to finish the april ensign or having such nice chats with my sister. and having to wear that flannel every night because i didn't pack appropriately and froze the whole time.

next up would be the pictures i took at the airport since i had an hour and a half to kill. i took one look at everyone just sitting at the gate and decided i would rather go exploring and i'm so glad i did!

such a fun little adventure with myself.

and who knew terminal D would bring so many fun things!

real life shoe shining chairs! andy anyone?

and to end the trip i saw not one but two std bears* in both airports.

i'd say that was the icing on my texas trip cake.

*this term comes from a trip we made back in 2007 to disneyland and saw a bear like this on a random bench on the huntington beach pier. it was so dirty and gross that we feared it contracted std's, hence it's name. now that i type that story out it feels somewhat uncomfortable but made so much sense at the time. i've come to realize they are all just rocky mountain chocolate bears but they will always be std bears in my heart.